scholarly journals The Structure of the Spinal Cord Ependymal Region in Adult Humans Is a Distinctive Trait among Mammals

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2235
Author(s):  
Alejandro Torrillas de la Cal ◽  
Beatriz Paniagua-Torija ◽  
Angel Arevalo-Martin ◽  
Christopher Guy Faulkes ◽  
Antonio Jesús Jiménez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Central Canal ◽  
Ependymal Cells ◽  
Injured Spinal Cord ◽  
Heterocephalus Glaber ◽  
Mole Rat ◽  
Naked Mole Rat ◽  
Adult Humans ◽  
Human Trait

In species that regenerate the injured spinal cord, the ependymal region is a source of new cells and a prominent coordinator of regeneration. In mammals, cells at the ependymal region proliferate in normal conditions and react after injury, but in humans, the central canal is lost in the majority of individuals from early childhood. It is replaced by a structure that does not proliferate after damage and is formed by large accumulations of ependymal cells, strong astrogliosis and perivascular pseudo-rosettes. We inform here of two additional mammals that lose the central canal during their lifetime: the Naked Mole-Rat (NMR, Heterocephalus glaber) and the mutant hyh (hydrocephalus with hop gait) mice. The morphological study of their spinal cords shows that the tissue substituting the central canal is not similar to that found in humans. In both NMR and hyh mice, the central canal is replaced by tissue reminiscent of normal lamina X and may include small groups of ependymal cells in the midline, partially resembling specific domains of the former canal. However, no features of the adult human ependymal remnant are found, suggesting that this structure is a specific human trait. In order to shed some more light on the mechanism of human central canal closure, we provide new data suggesting that canal patency is lost by delamination of the ependymal epithelium, in a process that includes apical polarity loss and the expression of signaling mediators involved in epithelial to mesenchymal transitions.

scholarly journals Foxj1a is expressed in ependymal precursors, controls central canal position and is activated in new ependymal cells during regeneration in zebrafish

Open Biology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 170139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Ribeiro ◽  
Joana F. Monteiro ◽  
Ana C. Certal ◽  
Ana M. Cristovão ◽  
Leonor Saúde
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Neural Tube ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Central Canal ◽  
Ependymal Cells ◽  
Injured Spinal Cord ◽  
Adult Zebrafish ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Sensory Functions

Zebrafish are able to regenerate the spinal cord and recover motor and sensory functions upon severe injury, through the activation of cells located at the ependymal canal. Here, we show that cells surrounding the ependymal canal in the adult zebrafish spinal cord express Foxj1a. We demonstrate that ependymal cells express Foxj1a from their birth in the embryonic neural tube and that Foxj1a activity is required for the final positioning of the ependymal canal. We also show that in response to spinal cord injury, Foxj1a ependymal cells actively proliferate and contribute to the restoration of the spinal cord structure. Finally, this study reveals that Foxj1a expression in the injured spinal cord is regulated by regulatory elements activated during regeneration. These data establish Foxj1a as a pan-ependymal marker in development, homeostasis and regeneration and may help identify the signals that enable this progenitor population to replace lost cells after spinal cord injury.

Ultrastructural study of the testis of non-breeding naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber, Ruppell)

1993 ◽  
Vol 175 (5) ◽  
pp. 447-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. Onyango ◽  
Dominic Oduor-Okelo ◽  
George E. Otiang'a-Owiti
Keyword(s):  
Ultrastructural Study ◽  
Heterocephalus Glaber ◽  
Mole Rat ◽  
Naked Mole Rat

scholarly journals Reaction of ependymal cells to spinal cord injury: a potential role for oncostatin pathway and microglial cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Chevreau ◽  
H Ghazale ◽  
C Ripoll ◽  
C Chalfouh ◽  
Q Delarue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Glial Cells ◽  
Mapk Signaling ◽  
Central Canal ◽  
Microglial Cells ◽  
Ependymal Cells ◽  
Rna Profiling ◽  
Cord Injury

AbstractEpendymal cells with stem cell properties reside in the adult spinal cord around the central canal. They rapidly activate and proliferate after spinal cord injury, constituting a source of new cells. They produce neurons and glial cells in lower vertebrates but they mainly generate glial cells in mammals. The mechanisms underlying their activation and their glial-biased differentiation in mammals remain ill-defined. This represents an obstacle to control these cells. We addressed this issue using RNA profiling of ependymal cells before and after injury. We found that these cells activate STAT3 and ERK/MAPK signaling during injury and downregulate cilia-associated genes and FOXJ1, a central transcription factor in ciliogenesis. Conversely, they upregulate 510 genes, six of them more than 20 fold, namely Crym, Ecm1, Ifi202b, Nupr1, Rbp1, Thbs2 and Osmr. OSMR is the receptor for the inflammatory cytokine oncostatin (OSM) and we studied its regulation and role using neurospheres derived from ependymal cells. We found that OSM induces strong OSMR and p-STAT3 expression together with proliferation reduction and astrocytic differentiation. Conversely, production of oligodendrocyte-lineage OLIG1+ cells was reduced. OSM is specifically expressed by microglial cells and was strongly upregulated after injury. We observed microglial cells apposed to ependymal cells in vivo and co-cultures experiments showed that these cells upregulate OSMR in neurosphere cells. Collectively, these results support the notion that microglial cells and OSMR/OSM pathway regulate ependymal cells in injury. In addition, the generated high throughput data provides a unique molecular resource to study how ependymal cell react to spinal cord lesion.

The structure, composition and mechanical properties of the skeleton of the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber)

Bone ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 128 ◽  
pp. 115035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Carmeli-Ligati ◽  
Anna Shipov ◽  
Maïtena Dumont ◽  
Susanne Holtze ◽  
Thomas Hildebrandt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Heterocephalus Glaber ◽  
Mole Rat ◽  
Naked Mole Rat
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